


Angels in the Snow

by TheFandomLesbian



Series: Spencer's Criminal Minds One-Shots [6]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Jemily - Freeform, Whump, Whumptober 2020, Wilderness Survival, implied HotchReid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26964199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFandomLesbian/pseuds/TheFandomLesbian
Summary: The jet explodes over a mountainous region of Wyoming, leaving the team stranded at a high altitude in midwinter.
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Series: Spencer's Criminal Minds One-Shots [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940851
Comments: 9
Kudos: 76





	Angels in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ItsEmilyFreakingPrentiss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsEmilyFreakingPrentiss/gifts).



“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” -Lewis Carroll

…

Quiet and peaceful, the engines of the jet hummed through the frigid midwinter air, crossing over the Rocky Mountains. The case was solved, the children saved, and now they cruised over northern Wyoming in relative silence. Snowflakes danced outside the windows. Hotch and Spencer sat next to one another, each reading a book over the table, the latter with his leg crossed and resting in the former’s lap. Across from them, Morgan had kicked up his feet onto the seat beside him, earbuds playing in his ears, head tilted back and eyes closed. Rossi sat ahead of them, legs crossed, watching a show on his tablet. JJ sat on the sofa, Emily’s head in her lap, snoring peacefully. 

The plane jolted. Emily sniffed awake. “Hm?” 

JJ chuckled at her. “Good morning, sunshine,” she teased. Emily’s tousled hair and tired eyes pronounced her sleepy look. The plane kicked a second time. JJ carded a hand through Emily’s hair. “It’s just some turbulence.”

A third time, the plane leapt, and this time, Hotch’s coffee spilled onto the floor, and Spencer’s book jumped out of his hand. “Whoa.” Spencer bent over to grab the book, and a fourth kick pitched him onto the floor, Hotch scrambling after him to try to catch him. 

“You alright?” Hotch asked.

“What the hell?” Morgan asked, ripping his earbuds out of his ears. “What’s going on?”

Emily sat up. The plane shuddered uncontrollably. “Guys, what’s going on?” Another jostling. The plane careened. Emily’s arms fixed to JJ. “Reid, do you know—”

“This isn’t turbulence,” he answered as he scrambled back toward his seat. “Maybe—” He cleared his throat, white-faced with terror. “Maybe somebody should go talk to the pilot—The weather was supposed to be clear to fly today—”

Rossi closed his tablet. “I’ll go talk to him, see if we need to land.” 

“We’re over the mountains.” JJ’s heart leapt into her throat. “There isn’t anywhere  _ to _ land.” No mountainous airport would accept landing during a winter storm. Outside, the snowflakes whipped past their windows. Rossi stood and opened the door to head into the cockpit. 

An explosion shook the jet, orange and red and smoke and steam billowing past the windows. The jet lurched to the right. Hotch, Spencer, and Morgan rolled out of their seats and landed on Emily and JJ. “Guys—” Spencer squeaked. The impact knocked the breath out of him. Dazed, Morgan was silent, trying to pull himself up and looking around all befuddled. 

“Dave!” Hotch called, fighting to sit upright. There was no answer.

The left wing detached. Shrapnel ripped past them. “What’s happening?” JJ couldn’t see past Hotch’s body where he wrapped himself around as many of them as possible, trying to shield them from the flying debris. Her heart floundered into her chest.  _ We’re going to die. _ She didn’t need an answer; they were going to die. They were going to die in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming in midwinter. Her arms coiled around limbs and bodies, left squeezing Emily, right clinging to Spencer.

“Hold onto each other!” Hotch’s voice shook in a way JJ had never heard before. His arms spread across them, all of them, like if he pressed them tightly enough together, they wouldn’t fall apart upon impact. Morgan pressed against her.  _ I’m never going to see Henry again— _

The screeching of metal ripping from metal pierced the air. The cockpit tore from the cabin of the plane. “ _ Rossi! _ ” Spencer shrieked. He extended a hand, as if he could somehow grab the cockpit where it crashed through the air and reattach it, but the front of the aircraft vanished from view. 

The frigid air ripped over their faces and shredded their clothing. The cabin bounced off of treetops and began to splinter. “Spencer—” Hotch’s voice, ragged, and JJ realized she felt cold where a body had clutched hers before,  _ We split up, it split us up, where are we going to land? _ and Spencer buried his face into her hair and she couldn’t feel Emily anymore.  _ Emily, where are you? _

When they struck the earth, JJ lost her grip on Spencer’s clothes. An explosion, and then another, propelled her away on a hunk of shrapnel, and another piece landed on top of her, pinning her to the searing metal and frozen earth. “Spence!” she screamed.  _ I’m still alive. Oh my god, I’m still alive— _ “Spence!  _ Help! _ I’m stuck! Hotch! Emily! Derek!” The metal would not budge against her floundering. She coughed. A fire was beside her, just out of reach; she could taste the soot on her tongue, and as the flames grew nearer, the metal heated up, burning her skin.  _ Am I on fire?  _ “Help! I’m burning! I can’t move! Can anyone hear me?”  _ What if they’re all dead?  _ What if she was the only one? What if she was going to slowly burn alive? What if—

“JJ—” Spencer’s breathless voice met her ears. She couldn’t see him, her view obscured by debris, but the sound of his voice brought her peace. “I’m here, I’m here, I’m—” He pushed on the sheet of metal. It didn’t budge. “Am I hurting you?” 

“No, it’s just really hot—” 

He shoved at it, but it refused to move. “Derek!” he called. “Aaron! Help! Can anyone hear me?” 

“Over here—” Morgan lumbered through the snow, and the two of them flipped the sheet of hot metal off of JJ’s body. “We’ve gotta get away from this debris. All this gas—it’s going to go up in flames again—” He picked up JJ and lifted her to her feet. 

The white of the landscape stung JJ’s eyes, made it difficult for her to focus. She found Morgan’s face first, a gash on his cheek and a limp to his step, and then her eyes darted to Spencer, with blood streaming from his ear and down his temple. She staggered over the wreckage. “We have to find Emily and Hotch.”

“Hotch!” Morgan called. “Hotch!” They scanned the scene of the rubble and the ice. “He was right next to me, but I lost my grip on him when it split us up, I think he was holding onto Emily—” 

“Over here!” Dizzy and weak, Hotch’s head poked out from under the rubble. He swayed where he sat. Spencer knelt beside him, trying to help him to his feet. “Prentiss is—somewhere right here, I had her, I had her until we hit the ground—” He struggled upward. In his right hand, he clutched half of a patterned blouse—Emily’s blouse. “I tried to hold onto her, but her shirt ripped.” He spat blood and one of his teeth into the snow. His left shoulder hung droopy and useless, arm immobilized. “She’s gotta be right here—” He blinked over them, dazed, like he didn’t recognize them at first. 

“Emily?” JJ called. “Emily, can you hear us?” 

“She may not be conscious,” Spencer said, clinging to Hotch, who strung his right arm across his shoulders to keep him upright. 

Then, her voice peeped out from under the refuse. “Uh, guys? I… I think I need a little help…” 

They all descended upon the sound, shoveling glass and steel, until Emily pushed her way up. “Here, stand up—” Morgan went to pull her to her feet. 

“I—I don’t think that’s the best idea—” Emily gulped, and she carefully dusted herself off. She was almost naked from the swath of her blouse Hotch had torn away, and there at the stretch of nude abdomen protruded a long steel pipe. Her lower lip trembled. She closed her eyes tightly, swallowing hard, trying not to look at it. 

JJ dropped to her knees. “Oh, dear god.”  _ What are we going to do? _ She put her arm around Emily’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” she promised, “it’s going to be okay—” Blood trickled from around the pipe where it had penetrated the soft of her stomach. JJ’s stomach turned. When she closed her eyes, the white landscape shimmered into a bathroom with a tub full of blood—

Flames lit up and caught a line of gas. “We have to move. Get her up, get her up—” Morgan and Spencer dragged Emily to her feet at Hotch’s command. She hissed in pain, and JJ stumbled along after them, trying to keep a hand on the small of Emily’s back. They arranged her some yards away in the snow under the shelter of some evergreen trees, and JJ perched beside her. “Emily—”

Her lips were blue. She shivered. “I’m fine, I—I can barely feel it—”  _ You’re going into shock, _ JJ wanted to say, but she bit her tongue, afraid that saying it would reverse its effects. Instead, she squeezed Emily’s hand and looked desperately up at the others. “What are we going to do?” Emily asked between gasps for air. 

What remained of the cabin exploded again. 

Hotch shrugged out of his suit coat, baring his teeth as he pulled his broken arm from the sleeve, and then he carefully draped it over Emily, trying to preserve her modesty and give her some warmth. He was silent, silent after a question about leadership, and at the forlorn, uncertain look upon his face, JJ’s whole being pulsed with hopelessness. He cleared his throat. “Does anyone still have their phone?” 

Morgan pulled his out of his pocket. The earbuds attached to it had melted. The screen was shattered, but— “It still has a charge, but I don’t have a signal.” 

Spencer looked around at the terrain. “Up there.” He pointed, swaying vaguely, and Hotch held onto him to keep him from falling. “That ledge—You might be able to get one up there, if you can climb that far.”

“Spence,” JJ said softly, “that’s a quarter mile up.” Morgan was injured—they  _ all _ were injured. They couldn’t climb mountains trying to get a cell phone signal. The terrain was icy and uneven. Morgan could fall to his death before he ever had the opportunity to make a call. 

“I can do it,” Morgan said. He turned on his heel and marched up the jagged peak, still limping as he went.  _ You shouldn’t. _ JJ could only stare after him in desperation as his figure vanished into the uphill slope of trees. Her hand pressed to Emily’s cold, windburned cheek. 

Hotch looked around. “We’ll—We have to try to find something to make a shelter, at least something to keep us out of the wind.”

Spencer licked his lips. “If we drag off some of those metal sheets and prop them against the trees, we can make a lean-to.”

“What about the first aid kit?” JJ asked. “There has to be a first aid kit in the jet, right? That’s regulation.”

Swallowing hard, Spencer nodded. “Yeah. It is. It’s in the cockpit.”

At the mention of the cockpit, Emily upstarted, blinking a few times. “Where’s Rossi? Can we—Can we find him? How far away would he have…” She got short of breath and couldn’t finish her sentence. 

“With the speed we were traveling and the angle with which he hit the ground, he could be up to a quarter mile away from us,” Spencer parroted.

Hotch touched his forearm. “We can’t worry about him right now. Hopefully he’s got access to the radio and will phone for help.” This statement had a preceding assumption, one none of them would put to the air— _ Hopefully he’s still alive. _ “Spencer, let’s go. We’re going to lose daylight fast.”

The sun encroached on the horizon. Emily coughed weakly, starting to recline backward, and JJ propped herself up behind her so she didn’t have to lie directly upon the frigid earth. “Emily?” JJ whispered, cupping her cheek again, trying to protect her face from the wind. Her ears were frozen, her fingers reluctant to bend, but she could scarcely feel the chilled weather. “How are you feeling, beautiful?”

Emily’s lips parted, buffering on the air, before she finally managed to produce some words. “I’m so sorry, Jayje.” Her breath whistled as she inhaled. She squeezed JJ’s hand with all of her might, feeding it underneath the sleeve of Hotch’s suit coat. They had so little, and he had sacrificed it to keep her warm. “I’m so sorry…” The wheezy cough quivered from her again. 

“Why? Why are you sorry?” JJ pressed. “Em, tell me what’s going on in your head.” 

“I’m so tired…” Emily exhaled the words. 

JJ’s heart shattered. “No, no, no, you’re not tired, you’re not tired, no.” She patted Emily’s cheek more firmly now until dark eyes fluttered up to meet hers. “Listen to me, I know you want to go to sleep, but you have to stay awake, please. For me.” 

A weak, pale smile tugged at Emily’s lips. “I love you.” She clutched JJ’s hand with all of the strength she could muster. She blew a short breath out her nose, and then she mumbled, “Didn’t think I deserved to get impaled twice… Might’ve deserved it the first time, but this seems… fucking excessive…” 

JJ shook her head. “No, no, Em, no, you didn’t deserve it… It was a mistake, just a mistake. We saved you then, and we’re going to save you now. You just have to give us the chance.” Her eyes fluttered, fighting the urge to close. “I know you’re so cold.” JJ hugged her tighter, trying not to jostle her too much. “Morgan went right up over that ridge. He’s going to call for help. You know? He’s going to call for help, and then he’ll come right back. He was right there the last time, remember?”

“I remember.” JJ smoothed the dark hair out of Emily’s eyes. “I looked at him… thought at least I’d see someone who loved me before I died.” 

“You’re not going to die. You’re going to be fine, and Morgan will be here, and Hotch and Spencer, and then we’ll find Rossi, and we’ll all be okay, I promise you. I promise you. I promise you—”  _ I never break a promise, I never break a promise to anyone. _ JJ squeezed Emily’s hand. “Will you promise me to stay awake?”

A long, slow breath released from Emily’s lungs. “I’m trying,” she whispered. “Harder than it seems, though.” She turned her head. “You really think Rossi’s okay?”

_ I don’t know. I don’t think so. _ “I hope so.” 

“I love you, Jayje.”

“I love you, too.”

Hotch and Spencer dragged sheets of metal into the copse of trees beyond them one by one, propping them up to make a shelter. The only suitcase that had survived was Emily’s, and they divvied up the winter gear between them; Spencer donned one of her coats, JJ took the gloves, Hotch took the toboggan, and the other coat JJ slid over Emily’s shoulders. Spencer used the things they couldn’t wear, her bras and her underwear and her tank tops, to line the frozen earth under the lean-to in an attempt to keep them off the frozen earth, and then JJ and Spencer pulled Emily to her feet and hauled her under the makeshift shelter. 

The blood kept pouring from Spencer’s ear and temple. The more time passed, the more dazed he became, all bent over with his head resting on Hotch’s shoulder. “We should try to start a fire,” Hotch said, prompting Spencer with a nudge. “How do we start a fire?”

He didn’t answer. “Spence,” JJ said. “Spencer!” The third time, he blinked heavily, reluctantly rousing. “Fire,” she said.  _ Are you okay? _ she wanted to ask, and she didn’t dare, because the answer didn’t matter—they were powerless to help him, to help Emily, to help themselves. 

Spencer rubbed his eyes with his fists. Dark raccoon markings encircled his eyes. “I… I don’t know,” he breathed. “Rossi would have—he would have, um, the, um, the thing you—” He made a gesture with his hand.

“A cigarette lighter,” JJ provided. 

Spencer nodded. “I don’t know where to find one.”

“There’s one in my suitcase,” Emily mumbled. 

JJ narrowed her eyes. “Emily,” she reprimanded.

“Oh, fucking sue me, JJ—Reid, if you find my cigarettes, I want one of those, too.” 

“Don’t give her one.”

Spencer pulled out the cigarette lighter and the half-empty pack of cigarettes. “Um—actually, ‘s’not a bad idea,” he said, blinking hard. “Vasoconstriction plus breathing in warm air will raise our body temperatures and blood pressures. I don’t think it could hurt.” He ignited the contents of the suitcase. Hotch wandered off and stumbled back with some branches, shaking them dry the best he could with one arm, and he slowly fed the fire one stick at a time. 

By the time it blazed, the sky had fallen into blackness, and they all crawled under the lean-to. The wind blew the heat from the fire just outside into the shelter. Spencer’s weak hands struggled to strike the lighter. Aaron took it from him and struck it with his right hand, and Spencer’s shaking grip held a cigarette up to the flame. He coughed, a thin sound, not enough to produce anything, only enough to shake his thin, pale body. 

Hotch flanked JJ, and Spencer reclined against him, his eyes no longer wanting to stay open, as they passed the cigarette around between them. “Morgan’s been gone for hours,” JJ whispered as she held the cigarette to Emily’s lips. The stench of burning tobacco clung to their breaths and their clothes. 

Hotch hung his head. “I know.” 

“‘M sorry,” Spencer mumbled. “I sent him away…” 

Hotch nudged him. “Spencer, you have to stay awake.” 

“It’s hard.” His voice was thick. 

“Tell me about it,” Emily muttered in return. 

The snow shifted and crunched just outside. Hotch upstarted, bracing himself, ready to barrel out of the shelter and fight if he had to. “Hotch? Reid? You guys in there?”

“Morgan!” JJ’s voice cracked. 

He ducked into the shelter. “I’m sorry, it took forever—” He dragged bags in after himself. “Garcia’s sending help via helicopter. It’s going to be a few hours, but she has our coordinates.” He ripped open the first red burlap bag. “I—I could see the cockpit from the overlook. I got the first aid kit and the food bag.” 

“You found Rossi?” Spencer asked in a small, broken voice. 

Morgan’s eyes flitted up to them in the firelight, sorrow reflected in their depths. 

Morgan had come alone. He wouldn’t have left Rossi alone in the cold. Not unless there was nothing else he could do. He unfolded his hand and held out the badge, and Hotch reached for it and took it, not saying another word. “Reid, can you get an IV started in Prentiss?”

Spencer nodded and rubbed his sleepy eyes, opening up the bag of saline and the pack of IV catheters. JJ lit another cigarette. “Why are we smoking?” Morgan asked.

“It’s my bucket list,” Emily muttered. 

He gave a weak smile, shaking his head as Spencer prodded around Emily’s arm for a vein and then punctured her. “Here, JJ, um… put this under your shirt or something, so it’s not as cold.” JJ obediently tucked the bag of fluids up under her shirt, cradling it between her breasts like an infant to try to bring it warmth. Spencer fell backward, landing clumsily beside Hotch.

“You alright, kid?”

“‘M fine,” Spencer mumbled. “Just hit my head pretty hard… Can’t really hear out of this one ear anymore…” He reached into the first aid kit and found a sling. “Here.” Hotch didn’t complain as Spencer fit it on his broken arm, though his face blanched with pain. Then, Spencer strewed himself across Hotch’s middle. Morgan pulled the shock blankets out and smothered them each under one, all drawing in close like litter of kittens piling on top of one another in the nest. 

JJ felt drowsy. She inhaled another drag on the cigarette. Hotch’s body was warm where it pressed into hers, Spencer all reclined across him, Morgan’s arms around them. Every time she inhaled from the cigarette, her heart pounded faster.  _ I have to stay awake. I have to keep Emily awake. I have to stay awake. I have to… _

“Wake up. JJ, wake up.” Hotch shook her by the shoulder. She roused from where her head had fallen into his lap, inches away from Spencer’s. “Spencer. Morgan.” 

They’d all fallen asleep, all except Hotch it seemed, and outside, the sounds of chopper blades battered the wind. Emily was the last to stir, exhausted eyes finding JJ’s. She exhaled a long, relieved sound. JJ bowed forward to peer out of the shelter and spotted the silhouette of the helicopter against the dawn on the horizon. “They came,” she whispered incredulously. “We made it.” 

The others crawled out of the shelter one by one. JJ stayed with Emily pressed up against her, waiting for the paramedics to come move her, rather than dragging her around again. “Em, we did it.” JJ brought Emily’s cold hand up to her mouth, pressing her lips to its back. “They’re coming to help, okay?” 

Emily pushed herself up on her elbows. The bag of fluids had run empty. “Thank god.” She leaned back against JJ. “I love you.” 

“I love you.” She couldn’t say it enough, nor with enough strength, and a lump strangled whatever would’ve remained for her to say. Nothing but the quiet quilt of snow upon the earth, glowing and reflecting the pale dawn light. The fire had died. The silence of the wintry mountains reflected back upon them. 

“It’s beautiful,” Emily said. 

“Yeah,” JJ echoed. “It is.” 


End file.
